Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[WoW]

Wait.. do people still think we are getting male viera in 6.0?

They also think that male viera will significantly boost SE's profit.

[Awha]

They also think that male viera will significantly boost SE's profit.

It would be such great PR, it would create buzz around this never before seen gender reveal! :P

[SomeRandomHuman]

They also think that male viera will significantly boost SE's profit.

Considering that miqo'te, highlanders, and roegadyns were genderlocked in 1.0 and they added the missing genders for 2.0... and now male miqo'te PCs are everywhere...

[WoW]

Considering that miqo'te, highlanders, and roegadyns were genderlocked in 1.0 and they added the missing genders for 2.0... and now male miqo'te PCs are everywhere...

False logic. Back then there weren't many races nor did the game had much equipment to adjust to these races. Now it's a much worse case. Even Yoshi P himself said how taxing it would to add new races now. Also, just because one of the three genders you mentioned is being played by a lot, doesn't prove your point. Male Hyur and female miqote are still the highest. Also, Viera and hrothgar numbers would like to have a word with you.

[SomeRandomHuman]

False logic. Back then there weren't many races nor did the game had much equipment to adjust to these races. Now it's a much worse case. Even Yoshi P himself said how taxing it would to add new races now. Also, just because one of the three genders you mentioned is being played by a lot, doesn't prove your point. Male Hyur and female miqote are still the highest. Also, Viera and hrothgar numbers would like to have a word with you.

So my logic is false yet you just admitted that male miqo'te are played a lot? I'm sorry but how can you make any kind of debate when you can't even stick to your own words?

I also wasn't making a point. I was just saying that there is a sizeable chunk of the player base that plays the the previously missing genders.

As far as viera and hrothgar numbers... well I think that their ultra limited hair and helmet options is a big factor. Give them access to all the hairs and a few more helmets and we'll see how much that changes things.

[WoW]

So my logic is false yet you just admitted that male miqo'te are played a lot? I'm sorry but how can you make any kind of debate when you can't even stick to your own words?

Learn to read. Male miqote alone being high in numbers has nothing to do with them being genderlocked in the first place. Female Roegadyn and highlanders were also not available in 1.0 yet they're among the least played. Correlation does not imply causation.

I also wasn't making a point. I was just saying that there is a sizeable chunk of the player base that plays the the previously missing genders.

Gender, not genders. And again, it has nothing to do with them being genderlocked. So again, false logic here.

You maybe right about the headgear affecting the numbers, but that also shows further that the dev team is already at their limit. So why would they add the missing genders? To further limit them? Would be funny to see the concept of "limited race". Only 10% of the data center would be able to make one. It's lore friendly as well rofl!

[SturmChurro]

They also think that male viera will significantly boost SE's profit.

More like cost them profit.

[MoofiaBossVal]

They also think that male viera will significantly boost SE's profit.

More like cost them profit.

Maybe. For each race/gender, you're going to need a few artists working on them full time, adjusting armors/accessories to fit them, and making animations for those characters (new emotes, new job ability animations, animations for cutscenes, etc). I don't know how much the average AAA game animator in Tokyo makes, but here in Southern California, you're looking at annual salaries in the $100,000+ range. Work on Hrothgar and Viera began in 2018, so Square must've sunk at least 3 or 4 million USD into them over the past 3 years.

According to FFXIV census, there seems to be about 200,000 total Hrothgar and Viera characters combined. If half of those characters used a $10 Fantasia, then Square made at least 1 million USD. No way to tell how many fantasiaed to hroth and then fantasied back to something else. There are also people who boosted new Hrothgar/Viera characters to 70. And there is no telling how many more people got into FFXIV because of the inclusion of Hrothgar and Viera, as those people bought the box, subbed, and maybe bought other cash shop items. But I'm not expecting the profit to be higher than a few million.

Yoshida said that male Hrothgar and female Viera were chosen because they thought that those would be more popular (read: more profitable) than having just one whole race. Presumably, if female Hrothgar and male Viera are added, they would be less popular/profitable than male Hrothgar and female Viera were. Going by the above napkin math, Square might not have made much of a profit on Hrothgar and Viera. Yoshida has said in interviews after Shadowbringers that they are stretched thin and that they won't be adding more races, so it sounds like they don't think they will break even on the cost of adding more races. Even if they do make money, it could be that the opportunity cost of using artists for this project would be high and that Square would be better served having those artists work on other things. Maybe work on more FF14 stuff... or be moved over to the FF16 project. There is no way FF16 isn't hogging resources from FF14. Dunno if Square would do that. FF16 as a mainline release would be really hyped, but the MMO probably has more long term profit potential (FF11 was the most profitable FF game ever due to subscriptions over a long time, and Square credited the success of ARR for saving the company). I'd imagine that keeping players happy so that they keep paying their monthly subscriptions over the course of years would be more profitable than a one time $60 box release that will sell a few million, but who knows.

[Veritas-Ancora]

They also think that male viera will significantly boost SE's profit.

Considering how disappointed fans were, review sites were, and general feedback to Yoshi P directly, I'd say yes.

[Kolsykol]

Considering how disappointed fans were, review sites were, and general feedback to Yoshi P directly, I'd say yes.

I understand the disappointment but I still think he's right, I don't think that male Viera would *significantly* boost players.
That's not saying that they shouldn't be a thing, I just think it's a bit of a silly thing to dispute.

Like as much as I genuinely hate censorship with a burning passion and have boycotted a number of games in the past because of it as well as entire studios and publishers, I am still not under some illusion that in the majority of cases it's a significant loss in profits except for in very niche cases.
Most people don't care THAT much, it's more of an annoyance but they don't have like a super strong principled stance against it to the point they'll make that sacrifice.
And the same thing goes here in the case of Viera I don't think there's is some huge number of people who either quit playing because there's no male Viera or aren't interested in starting unless they're added.
People at large tend to be quite nonchalant about content in games imo, the people who care on some deeper level tend to be a small but loud minority.

Honestly most people giving that feedback probably wouldn't even play male Viera to begin with it's just a general annoyance with gender-locks which I think is fair.
And also in regard to gaming websites it's just good clickbait which is also why people generally mainly tend to point at Viera moreso than Hrothgar, '' ermaghurd look sexy bunny girls but no boys the game is sexist ''.
Like I see that whole meme about '' male vs female fantasy races '' be spread around a lot when it comes to this topic from people who clearly don't play the game and seem to believe that Viera and Hrothgar are the same race.
People talk a lot but ultimately I don't think that profit-wise that this is really that big of a deal.

I think that one can acknowledge this point and at the same time be of the opinion that they should be added.

Considering that miqo'te, highlanders, and roegadyns were genderlocked in 1.0 and they added the missing genders for 2.0... and now male miqo'te PCs are everywhere...

The thing is tho that we're quite deep into the game and 2.0 was the relaunch of the game so it was essentially on day 1.
The game has been out for a very long time now and been established, so I don't think that these things affect it as much as it does with games with these things being there from the beginning.

It's not about whether they're popular when the option exists, it's whether those people playing those genders and races wouldn't play altogether if they weren't an option.
On day 1 with so many fewer options I think it's a much bigger deal but this late into a games life and with two races which lets be real here would still skew significantly in one direction I don't think it has that big of an effect.
Ultimately male Miqo'te is also a quite similar male fantasy as male Viera, the absence of that fantasy altogether would have a far greater affect than the absence of a second addition of it.
It's the difference between no options and less options.

Like for example my dream race would be Succubus.
But if they added Succubus and they were gender-locked to male, I wouldn't stop playing even tho I'd be very disappointed about it.
I mean yeah I'd be ranting about it on the forums and I get that I understand the strong feelings about it.
But it'd take way more than that for me to not play.

I mean even in this thread where I imagine the most passionate people are posting.
How many actually unsubbed?